Michigan State hockey doubled up by No. 5 Notre Dame, 6-3
No. 5 Notre Dame scored five goals in the second period to defeat the Michigan State hockey team, 6-3, Friday night before a crowd of 4,660 at the Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend.
Although Michigan State outshot the Irish, 38-33, Notre Dame used a flurry of goals in the second period to take down the Spartans. The 38 shots were the second-most by MSU this season and the most against a Big Ten opponent.
Zach Osburn scored two goals to lead the Spartans. It marked Osburn’s first two-goal game of the season and the second of his career (Oct. 9, 2015 at Maine).
Notre Dame’s Cale Morris, who entered the game leading the nation in save percentage, made 35 saves for the Irish. ND, which had already clinched the Big Ten regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, improved to 23-8-2 on the season (17-5-1-1 B1G).
In the first period, the Spartans (11-20-2, 5-16-2-1 B1G) came out aggressive and had eight shots in the first seven minutes. MSU continued to apply the pressure as Brennan Sanford took MSU’s 11th shot of the period at the 7:20 mark, but Morris made a stick save to halt the scoring threat.
Notre Dame broke through with its first goal of the game with 4:28 left in the first, as Mike O’Leary connected on his third goal of the season. The Spartans finished with 12 shots in the opening period, their fifth-highest total in the first period all season.
“I thought the first 10 minutes, and really the whole first period, our guys did a really good job,” said MSU head coach Danton Cole. “We kept pace and our persistence was really good, and we were putting a lot of pucks on the net.”
The Irish exploded for five goals in the second period, however, to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Although the Spartans opened the period with 1:27 left in a power play left over from the first, Notre Dame’s Jake Evans scored just 37 seconds in on a shorthanded, breakaway goal off of a Spartan turnover that put ND up, 2-0.
The Spartans responded to cut the margin to 2-1 as Osburn netted his third goal of the season with 14:08 left in the second, but the Irish scored back-to-back goals in a span of 16 seconds (Andrew Peeke at the 6:54 mark and Cam Morrison at 7:10) that pushed their lead to 4-1 and forced MSU goalie John Lethemon out of the game.
Notre Dame added two more goals in the second against Ed Minney to extend its advantage to 6-1.
“The second was a funny period; we made a lot of mistakes and a lot of unforced errors,” Cole said. “I’ll always give Notre Dame credit, but right from the beginning, we turned it over on the power play and it turns into a breakaway. That kind of kept going. Every one of those, we had control of the puck. We have to clean that up.”
Although the Spartans trailed 6-1 heading into the final period, Cole was pleased with his team’s effort in the third, as MSU scored two goals. Sanford struck first with a shorthanded goal, which was assisted by Carson Gatt and Tommy Miller, early in the period (2:50 mark), and Osburn registered his second goal at the 9:44 mark.
“In the third, and we talked about it when we came in (from the second intermission), (I said) let’s take a deep breath here and let’s get back to our game and see what happens,” Cole said. “And they pushed right to the end. There’s seven seconds left and we went down and got two shots on net. I love these guys. They battle and they’re not perfect, but they’ve handled a lot of adversity. Tonight was a weird one, but they kept battling.”
- MSU Athletic Communications